New Handle

[BHall]

Hey guys-
I am attempting to replace my first handle on my splitting maul. It appears the handle top does not have enough length as there is significant space between handle and front opening of maul and same in rear. Do I need a different style handle up top or will this suffice once I put the wedge in? It just appears that the wedge will only assist with widening the handle top not adding any length to it? I do not have maul head seated all the way onto handle but that top part of handle appears to be same length all the way down to shoulder.

 

[Jon1270]

I believe this is more or less normal and inevitable. The hole in the maul head is angled all the way around, because of the nature of the casting process used to make it, but the wedge can only expand the tenon in one direction. This would be a problem if the hole and tenon were rectangular, but since the sides are curved it doesn't really matter; once wedged, it's supported in all directions even though there might be small gaps at the ends.